5 Suggestions to Make Soccer More Palatable for American Audiences

Pajamas Media ^ | 06/18/2014 | Rick Moran

[1rudeboy]

I’m glad you brought up hockey. Imagine hockey without an offsides rule. Just imagine.

[discostu]

Notice hockey’s offside rule is completely different, it encourages good defensive play, and still allows the breakaway pass. Soccer’s offside rule encourages bad defensive play, and primarily functions to disallow the breakaway pass. Imagine soccer if after a steal on the perimeter your fast center man could run at top speed to the goal free to pass slower defenders before the ball is passed to him. Just imagine.

[dfwgator]

AUSSIES TAKE THE LEAD 2-1!!!!

[Political Junkie Too]

I will watch Soccer when the clock counts down not up, and no added time at the end.

That's how it was in the first two years of the American MLS seasons. No ties either. If the game ended in a tie, they went to penalty kicks.

They eventually replaced the shoot-out with two 5-minute halves for sudden death.

Then they just adopted standard international rules.

-PJ

[kevkrom]

Who scored, Bruce, Bruce, or Bruce? ;)

[kevkrom]

Or Van Persie?

2-2

[dfwgator]

Van Persie just tied it 2-2.

[kevkrom]

But, you know, boring. /sarc

[dfwgator]

Yep, just another boring game. /s

[untenured]

I actually like the WC as spectacle, although not so much as sports competition. The one thing that really irritates me is the insistence of announcers on using terms from England when in American sports they are different. In the U.S. we guard, not mark. We play on a field, not a pitch. And it’s “zero” or “nothing,” not “nil.”

[1rudeboy]

I don’t think that you watch soccer very much.

[cyclotic]

You beat me. I told a guy yesterday that soccer would actually interest me if they played with the shrunken head of a vanquished enemy like in the old days.

[1rudeboy]

When the American network (don't remember which one it was) experimented with all-American commentators during the '94 WC, the result was disastrous. I would wager that some of the anti-soccer folks (can't call them "haters" they get upset) on this thread were so turned-off by the experience that they carry it to this day. I was appalled, myself.

So bring on the experts, and let them comment in whatever version of English they wish.

[dfwgator]

I hate Fox, because they used Gus Johnson for the Champions League Final. Stick to basketball, Gus.

[dfwgator]

Typical. Aussies miss a huge chance, and Holland goes right down and scores, 3-2 Holland.

[kevkrom]

It’s stunning that when it comes to soccer, NBC actually does a better job than Fox does, consider what a cluster**** NBC usually is with sports.

[kevkrom]

I’m getting my updates from Twitter - did the Aussies just push forward too much and leave themselves open at the back?

[dfwgator]

Yep, the Dutch counter-attacked, it was a long shot, goalie should have made the save.

[untenured]

I actually saw a knockout-stage game (can I call it a playoff game?) at the Rose Bowl in 1994, Romania vs. Argentina. As an event it was a lot of fun, not least because I had a broken ankle and got to sit in the close-in handicapped seating. :)

But if Disney wants to (further) increase the appeal of the game to Yanks, it seems to me they ought to make the TV presentation of it more Yank-friendly.

[ScottinVA]

When I was in Germany many Bundesliga games ended at 0-0. And the World Cup championship game was only settled on a late penalty kick.